The White team defeated the Crimson team 31-17 in the Alabama A-Day spring game Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

By virtue of Crimson's victory, it will dine on steak Saturday, while White will be relegated to eating beans:

Crimson was led by starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the first-team offense, while the first-team defense played for White. Tagovailoa had somewhat modest production aided by a late touchdown with 265 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 19-of-37 passing, and he was outperformed by backup Mac Jones on the White team.

Jones had the benefit of facing the second-team defense, but he took advantage by throwing for 271 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 19-of-23 passing. Tagovailoa's brother, Taulia Tagovailoa, also played for White and went 6-of-9 for 93 yards with one touchdown and one pick.

Freshman wide receiver John Metchie thrived for White with five catches for 133 yards en route to being named A-Day MVP.

Things didn't start out ideally for Jones, as he was intercepted by freshman linebacker Shane Lee in the opening quarter. Alex Byington of the Montgomery Advertiser suggested that Lee could be in the mix for a starting spot entering 2019:

Crimson took advantage of the turnover, as running back Najee Harris rushed for a four-yard touchdown to give Crimson a 7-0 lead.

Following field goals by both sides, Jones got White in the end zone for the first time late in the first quarter when he found tight end Kedrick James in the flat for a 29-yard touchdown.

James did most of the work on the play with his run after the catch despite being viewed primarily as a blocking tight end, per Roll 'Bama Roll:

With a chance to give White the lead in the closing seconds of the first half, Jones got aggressive by going for a touchdown rather than settling for a field goal.

That decision paid dividends, as he found Xavier Williams for a 22-yard touchdown with nine seconds left off an impressive stop-and-go route by Williams.

While Jones had the best numbers among the Alabama quarterbacks Saturday, Taulia Tagovailoa stood out and made his case to be named Tua's backup as well.

Like Jones, Taulia stumbled out of the gates. One of his first passes was intercepted by safety Eddie Smith in the first half, which erased a strong play he made previous, according to John Mitchell of Saturday Blitz:

After getting that mistake out of the way, the younger Tagovailoa brother looked much more comfortable in the second half. That was apparent on a 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in the third quarter that saw Taulia roll to his left and throw on the run to extend White's lead to 24-10.

AL.com's Matt Scalici felt Taulia's touchdown pass looked quite familiar:

Based on how well both Jones and Taulia Tagovailoa played, Byington expressed his belief that head coach Nick Saban could have a difficult decision on his hands when it comes to choosing Tua's backup:

The biggest beneficiary of the quality quarterback play for the White team was Metchie, who stood out among a strong group of wideouts.

Metchie made several big plays in the game, including a 49-yard reception on an underthrown ball by Jones in the first half. Both Ben Jones of the Tuscaloosa News and Birmingham Iron reporter Marq Burnett were impressed by Metchie's showing:

After linebacker Jaylen Moody intercepted freshman quarterback Paul Tyson in the third quarter and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to put White on top 31-10, Crimson's fate was essentially sealed.

Even so, Saban gave Tua Tagovailoa a chance to work out some kinks by continuing to play him in the fourth quarter. That worked to Tua's advantage, as he finally broke through with a touchdown when he hit wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, who ran 54 yards for the score with 2:10 remaining in the game.

That touchdown made Tua's day look a bit better than it was, but Brad Crawford of 247Sports noted that he wasn't going against the easiest opponent:

Also, Tagovailoa dealt with a knee injury late last season, and Saturday marked his first significant action since the national championship game loss to Clemson.

Alabama's first-team offense was not in rhythm, although it is difficult to envision the Crimson Tide's offense being anything less than explosive in 2019 given the wide array of weapons Tagovailoa will have at his disposal.

Saban still has plenty of time to fine-tune things on the offensive side of the ball before Alabama opens up the regular season against Duke on Aug. 31.